KR Review #9: Theriom Troopers

It's a funny thing that there are plenty of armies in the KR universe, but what we haven't got in the line so far are army builders.

PoliganToys has finally taken a chance on army-building with their first multi-pack prototype ever - Theriom Troopers^TM!

Details

Name: Theriom Troopers

Real names: there are three characters, whose names are Wrapthur, Tang-Lha and Grabtrak; to be honest, I'm not really a fan of these names, because they have never been mentioned in the story, they are just made for the action figures and sound a bit silly in my opinion

Subtitle: heroic sentries

Classification: mammals (in particular, Wrapthur and Tang-Lha are humans)

Sex: Wrapthur and Grabtrak are males, Tang-Lha is female

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Theriom

Rank: privates.

Background

The Theriom Troopers are a constant presence in the KR universe and appear since the first issue The hidden halberd. The strongest and most skilled warriors on Tahron are regularly recruited by Tir-Hing to help guard Theriom City and defend the surrounding territories from attack. These heroic guardsmen are trained in multiple forms of hand-to-hand combat and are masters of capture weapons, including grabbers, bolas launchers and net guns. Whenever peace on Tahron is endangered, it is the bravery of such elite privates that often beats back the evil forces.

Articulation

Standard, excluding hinged abdomen for Tang-Lha.

Description

Heads: Wrapthur and Tang-Lha have human features, both showing cream white skin and dark eyes (Wrapthur also sports a brown soul patch, while Tang-Lha has a mole near the upper lip). Grabtrak has a similar appearance to a warthog, identifiable by the large brown head with two pairs of tusks protruding from the mouth and curving upwards. I appreciate the attempt to bring a part of the huge physical variety that characterises the Theriom Troopers (in the comics we can see humans and non-humans, males and females) into a 3-figure set, but I think injecting some racial diversity between the two human figures would have made this even better. Each of the three characters wears a silver helmet with gold details, whose size and shape are adapted to the type of head

Bodies: Wrapthur and Tang-Lha are sculpted using the same proportions seen in other human male (e.g., Masq-Lor) and female (e.g., Sei-Lha) figures; in addition, both show cream white skin. On the contrary, Grabtrak exhibits a brand new, much bulkier sculpt. I really like this new body structure, which instantly communicates brawn, and I hope to see it again in future figures. Grabtrak also displays a brown fur

Wearables: all the three characters wear gold armours with silver details, golden bracelets, golden boots, golden belts and silver groin protectors. All these elements show lots of electro-mechanical details, which give the troopers an interesting cyber character. Additionally, the heroic sentries are equipped with grey removable arm and thigh armours, each decorated with a diagonal blue stripe. Last but not least, each private carries a backpack, which bears a bright circle at the centre and four cords that run to four cuffs around the bracelets and boots; fictionally speaking, I guess this backpack is a portable reactor engineered to power some kind of servomechanisms attached to the troopers' wrists and ankles. Very very cool detail.

Theriom Troopers' stylised armour. Size and shape vary according to the body structure of the characters.

Action feature

This is another case in which most of the "coolness" of a figure lies in the action feature that comes with it. Each of the three characters is equipped with a large silver technological capture weapon. Wrapthur's weapon is a net gun. The mechanical device is well made, with lots of cyber details. The four corner-components attached to the blue net present four pins on one side of the net, to keep this in place before being fired, and four suction cups on the opposite side, to secure a foe against, for example, a wall. Tang-Lha is equipped with a two headed bolas launcher. This weapon looks also great, with the red spheres snapping securely into the two ports and the cord long enough to entangle an enemy's body. Finally, Grabtrak comes with a grabber, which can extend and clamp an opponent by means of two green gripping jaws. Again an amazing design with sculpted wires and gears, despite the extension feature is obviously limited by the length of the weapon itself (in the comics the clamp can move several meters away), perhaps a telescopic system would have helped to make it more "realistic". I know from PoliganToys that the original idea was to design these weapons with a trigger-activated spring-loaded action, but the idea was eventually discarded because too costly. However, I can't complain, because the three weapons look nice enough... they even have little cannons on the sides!

Weapons and accessories

The weapons for these three guys have already been described extensively in the previous section, but there are a few more accessories which, together with the removable leg and arm armours, give an added value to the figures. Each helmet is equipped with a clip-on translucent visor (blue for Wrapthur, red for Tang-Lha and green for Grabtrak) and a clip-on headset (on the right side of the helmet), which comprises an earphone, an antenna and a microphone in one piece. In addition, each groin protector can be decorated with one of two different clip-on emblems: either a Theriom symbol (a seven-pointed golden star with the two side points elongated, in three different sizes: smallest for Tang-Lha and biggest for Grabtrak) or a symbol that evokes a capture weapon (a blue x-shaped net, a red circle and a green pincer pointing downwards).

Theriom Troopers' stylised helmet.

Overall, I'm totally satisfied with this set, not only because it includes three different figures, but also because each figure has a lot of personality, with interesting details, surprising sculpts and great accessories. The down aspect for this multi-pack is probably going to be the price; even if at this moment there is no information about how much a regular figure will cost when KR get on the market, it's not too difficult to predict a high price for a 3-figure pack like this one. But that's another story for now and I can only express a very good opinion about the Theriom Troopers.

KR Review #8: Nemhisto

October is a pretty exciting month for me, since I've already picked up three very important characters in the KR universe, namely Tir-Hing, Demo-Rha and Sei-Lha. However, this is the first time I get a non-primary character in the line - Nemhisto^TM!

Nemhisto is the eighth action figure prototype I've received from PoliganToys.

Details

Name: Nemhisto

Subtitle: cruel entity

Classification: spirit; formerly human

Sex: male

Relationships: Demo-Rha's father

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Destructomorph

Rank: demonic presence; former mercenary, bounty hunter and gladiator.

Background

Nemhisto's first and probably only notable appearance in the KR story line is in The hidden halberd, where he is presented as Demo-Rha's deceased father. It is recounted that he was once a cruel mercenary and was killed by a rival, who Nemhisto had outsmarted by trapping him and turning him in for a bounty. Several years later, he is magically resurrected as a demonic spirit by his beloved, orphaned and wicked daughter.

Articulation

Standard.

Description

Head: orange skin, long white hair, glowing eyes, evil grin. He wears a headdress produced from the skull of an undefined animal - this looks like a water buffalo, but the horns are smaller and instead of the long muzzle it bears a more feline upper jaw with sharp teeth, while the lower jaw is absent; on the front, the skull covers Nemhisto's head down to his eyebrows (I wish it could be moved down further, to see his eyes glowing through the skull's eye sockets, although they wouldn't match perfectly), while on the back we can see the white hair coming out from its base. Additionally, and I think this is the weirdest detail, the blade of a sabre crosses Nemhisto's headdress (and braincase) from side to side. Fortunately I've never seen the face of the devil, but I bet it looks like this!

Body: orange skin, clawed hands. The exposed parts of his body, i.e., arms, legs and torso, are translucent

Wearables: a golden shoulder/chest armour, two golden cuffs, two golden armlets decorated with emeralds around the biceps, two golden boots, a golden belt, a dark-green loincloth (which seems made of a sort of grass) and a red cape. The cape is extensively torn (I wouldn't expect this from someone who wears gold and emeralds all over...) and fixed to the front of the armour using a big gold brooch topped with an emerald. The brooch can actually be detached, so that the cape can also be worn without armour - this is the look that is shown in the comics and I honestly like better.

Nemhisto's stylised shoulder/chest armour.

Action feature
I think this is the first time since I started reviewing the KR action figures that I feel disappointed when getting to this point of the review. Why? Because the only action feature for Nemhisto is his eyes glowing in the dark. OK, I appreciate the fact that the GITD eyes together with the exposed parts of his body cast in a translucent orange definitely give him a spirit look, but I still think that some additions are needed.

Weapons and accessories
Nothing. Yes, you read well, Nemhisto has neither weapons nor accessories. So, you might now understand my criticism about the absence of a cool action feature, which would have balanced the lack of any accessories. Or the other way around. To be honest, the additional armour should be considered an accessory, but in my opinion it's totally unnecessary. Yes, there is also a weapon, which even looks great, with a silver blade and a greenish (maybe oxidised bronze?) basket hilt... but it's stuck in his head! Allowing the sabre to be extracted and held in Nemhisto's hand would have been a nice touch. Well, one may say that he's a demon and demons don't need weapons. Perhaps...

Overall, I can't say that Nemhisto isn't a great figure, because it is. What makes it great is his true demonic look, rendered by an awesome sculpt, translucent body parts and glow-in-the-dark eyes. On the other hand, as I wrote at the beginning of this review, he's not really a primary character in the KR universe (even if in The hidden halberd he has a kind of prominent role), so I just think that his future release should be accompanied by either a cool action feature or a better accessory than the armour, to balance his lack of indispensability.

KR Review #7: Sei-Lha

PoliganToys makes a big leap forward this month with its first all-human female figure - Sei-Lha^TM!

Sei-Lha is the seventh action figure prototype I've received from PoliganToys.

Details

Name: Sei-Lha

Subtitle: brave soldier

Classification: human

Sex: female

Relationships: Masq-Lor's love interest

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Theriom

Rank: second lieutenant; expert in electronic & computer engineering and veterinary medicine.

Background

Also Sei-Lha's first appearance takes place in The hidden halberd, where she's presented as a respected member of Tir-Hing's troops and a real badass, especially when armed with her hyper-technological backpack. The daughter of Xonedar^TM, Sei-Lha grew up in Theriom City and was trained in military techniques since her childhood, eventually rising to the rank of Lieutenant. Her missions often involve scouting the borders of Tahron for signs of lurking villainy. She has never known the identity of her mother and is yet to become aware of her true nature.

Articulation

Standard, excluding hinged abdomen.

Description

Head: brown skin, short brown hair, blue eyes; to me she definitely looks pretty, a kind of mix between Halle Berry and Rihanna

Body: arms and legs covered with a tight beige&brown camouflage uniform

Wearables: a light-blue bulletproof vest, two silver bracelets, two silver boots, a silver belt and light-blue shorts.

Action feature

I really think the strength of the figure lies in the action features that come with it. In the comics Sei-Lha is equipped with a hyper-technological backpack, which has been built by her father (another amazing character that we'll probably see in November). So, the figure comes with her backpack and the related harness, both in silver colour (only the background of the chest plate is light-blue). Fictionally, this backpack can produce a number of tools, two of which are included as accessories with the figure and can be mounted (one at a time) to the back harness after detaching the backpack. The first tool is a pulley with a string (fictionally a cable) and two grappling hooks, which allows Sei-Lha to slide from one point to another, similarly to a zip line. The system works quite smoothly, but the hooks are not strong enough to secure the "cable", it is necessary to tie the extremities of the string around some objects. The second tool is an airplane-shaped jet-pack with hinged wings, which can also be used as a hovering jet-board (with Sei-Lha standing on it) by tilting the "tail of the plane" up to transform it into a handlebar. This hovering mode is well simulated thanks to the presence of three small wheels under the board. Both the tools are very well designed and painted in the same silver colour of the harness/backpack. But that's not all. We also get two missile launchers (each can fire one missile thanks to a spring-loaded mechanism) and two mechanical arms (each with a 3-point articulation). Basically, the two launchers can be directly connected either to the sides of the pulley or to the wings of the jet-pack/board; more sophisticatedly, each launcher can be attached to one extremity of a mechanical arm and the arms can then be connected either to the sides of the pulley or to the wings of the jet-pack. In the latter mode, Sei-Lha is able to grab the launchers in her hands. In addition, the rear part of each launcher looks a bit like an exhaust, so I like to imagine that it also works as a propulsion system.

Sei-Lha's stylised harness over bulletproof vest; the oval at the centre of the chest plate represents a silver version of the Theriom symbol.

Weapons and accessories
If you thought that the amazing accessories listed above are the end of the story, well, you'd be wrong, because there's more: an alternative head and a shield. Let's start with the second head - in the comics a light-blue helmet can also be produced by the backpack, exactly like all the other gadgets, and together with the figure we get a nice replica of Sei-Lha's helmeted head. This has a silver microphone, an antenna and a black glass visor that can slide into place over her eyes by means of two silver sidepieces. I really like the fact that the visor is a separate piece and can be removed. Actually, the whole helmet is removable, revealing a sort of shiny balaclava which covers part of Sei-Lha's head; I have no memory of this detail from the comics, so I guess it's just an addition to the toy. To sum up, with just two heads we are able to expose Sei-Lha in five different ways: helmet-less with hair, helmet-less with balaclava, helmeted without visor, helmeted with visor up, helmeted with visor down... wow! The second accessory is a rotating blade shield, which is definitely cool. It's a round metallic light-blue shield equipped with a 3-blade coaxial piece, which spins when is given a flick.

Sei-Lha's stylised helmet.

Overall, Sei-Lha is a great figure, with lots of accessories. The only disappointing detail, in my opinion, is the colour of the bulletproof vest - the light-blue definitely clashes with the camo design of her uniform. Also, I'm going to repeat what I already wrote about Demo-Rha: in the comics Sei-Lha has many different looks, including plainclothes, full suits of armour and demoniac (i.e., possessed by the spirit of Demo-Rha's father, Nemhisto) and I hope we'll see all of them released as variants of this character in the future.

KR Review #6: Demo-Rha

October is pretty interesting for KR fans. I'm still trying to figure out how to complete all this month's reviews before I'll receive new prototypes in November, but things seem to be quite on track with this review of Demo-Rha^TM!

Demo-Rha is the sixth action figure prototype I've received from PoliganToys.

Details

Name: Demo-Rha

Subtitle: evil witch

Classification: presumably human

Sex: female

Relationships: Deptilion's lover

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Destructomorph

Rank: deputy marshal; expert in witchcraft.

Background

Once again, this is a character that first appears in The hidden halberd. Here, Demo-Rha is presented as the wicked partner of Deptilion, with whom she established the Destructomorph faction, and the orphan of a mysterious man called Nemhisto^TM. She possesses incredible dark magic powers, which she proudly shows to her enemies; however, her origins remain very obscure. There are several references to an enigmatic past all throughout the comic book, but apparently we are not supposed to know much at this point of the story.

Articulation

Standard, excluding hinged abdomen.

Description

Head: half-Asian features, pointy ears, vampire teeth. Her skin, hair and eyes have an albino character, but their colour, instead of being completely white, tends to a very light-toned blue. Her long hair is pulled back behind a flashy four-horned purple tiara, from the back of which several snake-like light-blue metal elements stretch on the head, forming a sort of helmet. Also, she has two black "tears" painted below her eyes and wears a pair of grey teeth as earrings

Body: very pale skin, but its colour, instead of being completely white, tends to a very light-toned blue

Wearables: a light-blue armour with purple details (it is also decorated with grey claws around the armholes and a Destructomorph symbol, i.e., a square-shaped blueish spider whose back slightly resembles a demoniac face, accompanied by grey bones on the chest piece), two light-blue bracelets, two light-blue boots, a light-blue belt (whose buckle resembles a little grey skull), a short purple skirt and a black cape with a jagged design (which, disappointingly, is permanently attached to the armour).

Demo-Rha's stylised armour; the circle at the centre of the chest piece represents the Destructomorph symbol.

Action feature

In the comics Demo-Rha can transform either into a shadow-demon thanks to her shadow-cape, which, we learn, used to belong to Elykta in the past, or into a flying human torch by merging with the spirit of her father. These features are brought to real life simply by equipping the figure with two accessories: the shadow-demon (with a clear stand to display it) and a flame attachment for her left magic-wielding hand. Both items are nicely sculpted and look cool, even if, like with Elykta's star-form, the demon is a bit too small. The flame attachment is a really nice touch and hopefully works as a foretaste of a future full human-torch variant.

Weapons and accessories

Besides the above-mentioned demon and flame, Demo-Rha comes with two other very well designed accessories. The first is her purple staff topped with a modified version of the Destructomorph symbol, i.e., a square-shaped black spider, whose back resembles a human skull. I feel a bit confused, because this symbol is almost identical to the one seen on Ah-Rak's chest plate; so... shouldn't the sceptre be held by Ah-Rak instead? Or is there any hidden messages behind what seems a simple coincidence? No, I don't think so. I think it's just a cooler version of the normal Destructomorph emblem, so more characters like to show it off. The second accessory is a clip-on metal sheath with a stiletto, which can be attached to one boot. To be honest, I don't remember I've seen this in the comics, but it's a nice addition in any case.

Overall, I'm totally happy with Demo-Rha. She looks frightening enough to be the perfect partner for Deptilion. However, in the comics she shifts into so many peculiar shapes that I hope we'll see all of them released as variants of this character in the future.

KR Review #5: Tir-Hing

This month we begin our string of reviews with Tir-Hing^TM, the wise ruler of Tahron!

Tir-Hing is the fifth action figure prototype I've received from PoliganToys.

Details

Name: Tir-Hing
Family name: at some point in the comics it is mentioned that his surname is Amhalgaard^TM

Subtitle: wise ruler

Classification: primivod mammal

Sex: male

Relationships: father of Desion (Masq-Lor)

Home: Tahron

Affiliation: Theriom

Rank: Senior Minister of the Republic of Tahron; commander-in-chief of the Theriom Armed Forces.

Background

Like most of the main characters, Tir-Hing's first appearance is in The hidden halberd, where he is presented as King Li-Khon^TM's second born son and father of Masq-Lor. It is recounted that Tir-Hing carried out a successful military career, finally acting as a general and leading the Theriom army against their enemies. Wishing to alleviate the devastating effects of the war, he proposed to allow the people of Tahron to choose their ruler. King Li-Khon agreed to set aside the monarchy and gave his son the permission to transform the kingdom into a democratic republic. For being enraged by this decision, Li-Khon's oldest son and heir to the throne was banished from the family. With the rise of Deptilion and his army of outcasts, and the always present reptilian threat, Tir-Hing was elected Senior Minister of the Republic. Once again, he joined the struggle for freedom, heroically declaring his rule over Tahron and raising his halberd to fight evil.

Articulation

Standard, with spring-loaded waist torsion.

Description

Head: predominantly leonine (even if he's a primivod, a fictional anthropomorphic marsupial), characterised by a thick reddish fur and blue eyes; he wears a golden diadem bearing the Theriom emblem (i.e., a seven-pointed star with the two side points elongated) and a small dark-blue gemstone in its centre

Body: thick reddish fur, claw hands and feet

Wearables: a purple armour with dark-blue details, two purple bracelets, two purple calf protectors, a purple belt, a slightly long dark-blue fabric loincloth and a blue cape.

Tir-Hing's stylised armour.

Action feature

Tir-Hing is both a sage ruler and a skilled combatant, but I guess fighting whilst wearing a cape and a diadem must be pretty uncomfortable. So, here comes Tir-Hing's action feature: the clip-on diadem is easily removable, while the cape can be taken off by temporarily detaching Tir-Hing's head. Also, when the cape is removed, a golden element on the back of the belt becomes visible. This is actually a sort of "switch", which can be moved either to the left or to the right, respectively engaging or disengaging a spring-loaded waist torsion. In simple words, you can choose between "punch" and "pose" mode.

Weapons and accessories

Tir-Hing comes with a silver halberd, which is one of the four components of the Key (the one whose blade has four tips) and the second halberd we get after Deptilion's one.

Overall, I like Tir-Hing. I mean, his look is not very innovative, he's a kind of lion-man, even though he isn't a lion at all but a totally different (nonexistent) animal. Perhaps, this is the only disappointing aspect: he looks like many other already-seen characters, just think about Thunder Cats. However, he's an essential character in the KR universe: he's the man who gave up the royal-safety to attempt bringing political balance in his land and he's the father of the hero of the story. All this makes me like him and I'm happy he's now on my shelf.